Singapore-listed Frasers Centrepoint Trust is buying the remaining 63.1% stake in the AsiaRetail fund for S$1.06bn in a bid to become one of Singapore’s largest suburban mall owners.
FCT is buying the stake from a wholly-owned subsidiary of its sponsor, Frasers Property, in a deal that will expand its portfolio to 11 malls and increase its net lettable area by 64% to 2.3m sq.ft.
The deal, which includes the Tiong Bahru Plaza, White Sands and Hougang malls, will grow its total assets to S$6.65bn.
“We acquired the initial 17.1% stake in ARF in April 2019, followed by acquisitions of additional interest that increased FCT’s stake to the current 36.9% when the opportunity presented itself,” said Richard Ng, CEO of the REIT’s manager.
“Post the proposed equity fund raising, FCT is expected to be among the top ten largest S-REITs by market capitalisation.” (Read more)
The announcement was made after the markets closed on Thursday.
| Index | Change | Value at close |
|---|---|---|
| S&P/ASX 200 A-REIT | +1.64% | 1,327.10 |
| S&P/ASX 200 | +0.81% | 6,112.60 |
| FTSE ST REITS | -0.41% | 844.38 |
| STI | -0.32% | 2,531.79 |
| Tokyo Stock Exchange REIT | +1.44% | 1,749.75 |
| Nikkei 225 | +0.94% | 23,465.53 |
| Hang Seng REIT | +0.44% | 5,618.98 |
| Hang Seng | -0.45% | 25,007.60 |
Japan: Sekisui House, Invesco Office REITs issue JPY 11bn in green bonds
Invesco Office J-REIT Inc. (3298) and Sekisui House REIT Inc. (3309) issued almost JPY 11bn in green bonds in total on Thursday, building on their sustainability initiatives.
Sekisui House REIT issued JPY 4bn of green bonds set to mature in 2025 at an interest rate of 0.25% and another JPY 4bn of green bonds due to expire in 2030 at an interest rate of 0.51%. (Read more)
Invesco Office J-REIT issued JPY 2bn of green bonds set to mature in 2025 at an interest rate of 0.31% and a further JPY 1bn of green bonds due to expire in 2030 at an interest rate of 0.62%. (Read more)
Nomura Securities and SMBC Nikko Securities were the underwriters for the Invesco Office J-REIT bonds, while the Sekisui House REIT bonds were underwritten by Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, Mizuho Securities, SMBC Nikko Securities, and Nomura Securities.
Invesco Office J-REIT shares closed 1.04% higher at JPY 14,570 on Thursday, while Sekisui House REIT stocks finished trading up 0.66% at JPY 76,500.